For a working stiff, that kind of money was equivalent to half a month's salary. In the past, he would have just thought he was having a lucky day; the dangerous idea of staying in his hometown to become a fisherman would never have crossed his mind. Being a fisherman was no easy job—not only was the work grueling and exposed to the elements, but it also came with a fair amount of danger.
Reflecting on his decision to quit his job, return home, and receive the system while fishing, Jiang Nanzhou figured all of this must be the arrangement of the heavens, predestined by fate.
Since the heavens had granted him a cheat, he was going to seize this opportunity.
While he was still young, he wanted to take a shot at it. What if by turning a bicycle he could get a motorcycle?
Once he made up his mind, he would not give up easily.
The next day, after finishing breakfast, Jiang Nanzhou took the fishing rod out of the system inventory and headed over to his grandfather's house. He planned to go out to sea with his grandfather again today; after all, now that he had a cheat, finding schools of fish would be a breeze.
When he reached the old ancestral home, Jiang Nanzhou saw only Grandpa Jiang alone at home, rummaging through something in the storage room.
"Grandpa, how come you're the only one home? Where did Grandma go so early?"
"Your grandma went down to the beach for gathering seafood. The tide went out early today."
"Ah, what are you looking for? Are we still going to set the nets today?"
Seeing that his grandson had even brought a fishing rod, Grandpa Jiang knew he wanted to tag along.
"You brat, are you hooked already? Let me go get a few crab cages. The crabs are at their fattest right now."
Grandpa Jiang piloted the boat at a leisurely pace while Jiang Nanzhou stood by the gunwale, gazing down into the sea where the seabed was clearly visible in a single glance.
Before long, Jiang Nanzhou spotted a huge school of yellow croakers, their size much bigger than yesterday's small yellow croakers. He hurriedly called out:
"Grandpa, stop the boat quickly! Just drop the nets right here. I just saw fish breaking the surface, there must be a school of them around."
Grandpa Jiang had set nets near here before, but had never reaped much of a harvest. Even though he wasn't optimistic about this spot, since his eldest grandson said to drop the nets here, then here they would drop them.
"All right, let's drop them right here."
After dropping the nets, they headed for Shidao, the island they had visited yesterday. That rocky reef area had plenty of crabs.
The island was not very large, taking only about twenty minutes to walk all the way around.
Jiang Nanzhou took the lead, holding his fishing rod and a bucket filled with small fish he had brought from home. He jumped ashore onto the island.
"Grandpa, I'll go look around first and find a good spot to set the crab cages. You get the chicken giblets ready in the cages."
Watching Jiang Nanzhou acting just like a rash young lad, Grandpa Jiang smiled and said, "Go on, go on. Everything is up to you today. You're the captain—wherever you say to set them, that's where we'll set them."
Suddenly, a wave of melancholy washed over Jiang Nanzhou. Looking at the old man before him—his back hunched and his hair white—who was speaking to him in the tone one might use to coax a child, he was reminded of when he was little and would go out fishing at sea with his grandfather just like this. He hadn't understood a thing and would give blind commands, telling his grandfather to drop the nets wherever he fancied, and his grandfather would just play along to humor him. Sometimes there wouldn't even be a single tiny shrimp in the net, and Grandpa would still get scolded by Grandma when they got home. How time flew.
After walking for about five minutes, Jiang Nanzhou discovered a deep depression in the rocks, looking about four or five meters deep. At the bottom of that pit was a dense mass of orchid crabs, with distinct blue markings on their pincers and legs, and all of them were quite large.
Jiang Nanzhou left his fishing rod and bucket right there and went back to help Grandpa Jiang carry the crab cages over.
Once the crab cages were all lowered into the water, Jiang Nanzhou began fiddling with his set of rods.
After making his adjustments, he hooked a small fish and cast his first line of the day.
This was because he had spotted a few golden-looking fellows in the water, chasing a school of small fish as they swam toward this side.
Just then, the system's prompt chime rang out.
"System task: Catch one wild large yellow croaker weighing over 2 catties within three hours. Successful completion rewards a set of high-tech diving gear; task failure results in the host drooling continuously for 24 hours. Timer starts now. Hang in there, Host!"
Jiang Nanzhou was speechless. Drooling for 24 hours straight—would his mouth even be okay after that?
Those large yellow croakers still had no idea danger was approaching and were still down there eating heartily.
Jiang Nanzhou shook the fishing line to guide it closer to the school of yellow croakers.
Watching Jiang Nanzhou dangling and swaying his rod all over the place with a face full of dark lines, Grandpa Jiang couldn't help but speak up:
"Little Zhou, this won't do at all. Even if there are fish, you'll scare them all away with all that shaking."
"Grandpa, this is my exclusive fishing technique. Just you wait and see."
The yellow croaker swimming closest saw the small fish delivered right to its mouth; it figured it would be foolish not to eat it, so it opened its mouth and swallowed the small fish.
No sooner had Jiang Nanzhou spoken than he jerked the rod upward fiercely.
Holy cow, this little fish tasted a bit prickly in the mouth! The large yellow croaker spat hard, but couldn't spit it out at all. Just as it wanted to keep trying, it was violently jerked upward, hauled straight out of the water, and landed right on the rocks.
Grandpa Jiang was dumbfounded. My word, he just flung it straight out!
If he had been using any other fishing rod, Jiang Nanzhou wouldn't have dared to flip it directly like that for fear of snapping the line, but products of the system were truly top quality.
Especially with his enhanced physique, his arm strength was beyond reproach; that flick just now had been effortless.
By the time Grandpa Jiang snapped out of his daze, Jiang Nanzhou had already unhooked the fish.
Grandpa Jiang hurriedly opened the lid of the live well and turned on the oxygen pump.
"What kind of luck do you have? Yesterday it was a tiger grouper, and today it's a large yellow croaker. This one has to weigh at least a catty and a half!"
"Grandpa, this is skill."
With that, Jiang Nanzhou cast another line toward the same spot.
Grandpa Jiang was speechless. He certainly didn't believe that; with the technique the boy had just used, catching even a single fish would be a miracle.
Grandpa Jiang baited his own fishing rod with a small fish and cast it out toward that direction as well, yet there wasn't the slightest sign of a bite.
Those large yellow croakers from earlier were still stuffing their faces and hadn't realized a single companion was missing.
They say fish have a seven-second memory—had they already forgotten how many fish there were when they arrived?
When Jiang Nanzhou landed a fish using the exact same method for the seventh time, Grandpa Jiang silently reeled in his fishing rod, thinking to himself that this brat must have secretly prayed to Mazu before heading out.
"Congratulations to the host for completing the task. You have obtained a set of diving gear, which has been placed in the system warehouse."
After Jiang Nanzhou reeled in all those large yellow croakers, there were only some worthless small fish left nearby, so he lost interest.
He checked the time; the crab cages had been down for nearly two hours.
"Grandpa, go check on the crab cages. I'll fish a little longer. It's starting to get a bit breezy, and the sky is looking overcast."
"All right, I'll go take a look."
Jiang Nanzhou knew that even if there were no fish left, he still had to put on a show—catching a fish on every single cast would be way too suspicious.
Grandpa Jiang grabbed the rope of the crab cage and pulled with all his might, but it didn't budge. He pulled with force again, and it moved just a tiny bit. Grandpa Jiang didn't dare to use reckless strength; he was terrified of throwing out his old lower back. He had to take good care of his body—he still wanted to take his future great-grandson out to sea.
"Little Zhou, come over here quickly!"
Hearing his grandfather call him, Jiang Nanzhou reeled in his fishing line and packed up his rod.